US 12,344,067 B2
Arm member and method of manufacturing arm member
Katsuhiro Hiramatsu, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to SOMIC MANAGEMENT HOLDINGS INC., Tokyo (JP)
Appl. No. 18/285,407
Filed by SOMIC MANAGEMENT HOLDINGS INC., Tokyo (JP)
PCT Filed Jan. 27, 2022, PCT No. PCT/JP2022/003061
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Oct. 3, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/239311, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 17, 2022.
Claims priority of application No. 2021-082412 (JP), filed on May 14, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2024/0109381 A1, Apr. 4, 2024
Int. Cl. B60G 7/00 (2006.01)
CPC B60G 7/005 (2013.01) [B60G 7/001 (2013.01)] 4 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of manufacturing an arm member; the arm member comprising: a ball joint
having a ball-side member including a ball part, and a receiving-side member including a swaged part and holding the ball part inside the receiving-side member using deformation of the swaged part, an arm part having an arm part body made of discontinuous fiber-reinforced resin and continuous with the receiving-side member, and a covering part made of continuous fiber-reinforced resin and covering an entire surface of the swaged part,
wherein the receiving-side member further includes a cylindrical receiving-side member body part and a closing member covering the receiving-side member body part at a first end thereof, the swaged part disposed at the first end
of the receiving-side member body part and formed to fix the closing member to the receiving-side member body part, and
the covering part continually covers the entire surface of the swaged part and the closing member; the method of manufacturing comprising: a swaging step
of swaging and shaping the swaged part while the ball part is inserted in the receiving-side member to hold the ball part inside the receiving-side member, and a forming step
of performing hot press forming on the discontinuous fiber-reinforced resin and the continuous fiber-reinforced resin to form the arm part body and the covering part after the swaging step.